‘Only the T-shirts are left’ – the Archaeology of Imarat Kavkaz in Syria

Even if I’m not posting publicly, apart from this brief post, I’ve been doing research on IK v Shame & the current situation. But I wanted to share this fantastic photo, which was taken very recently* and is of Imarat Kavkaz’s very first base in Haritan, Aleppo province. It’s fantastic because it very cleverly sums up the situation — the shell of the bombed out building is all that remains of a different time when IK had just arrived in Syria and was (briefly) united (sort of )…the mujahid in the IK t-shirt in the photo is not part of IK — he’s just wearing the shirt**. As a former IK mujahid put it, “only the t-shirts are left.”

*Not by me — obviously.

**This is one of many reasons why you shouldn’t take photos at face value! Not everyone in a IK shirt belongs to IK.